Mists of Pandaria: Legendary Weapons Preview

Mists of Pandaria introduced a legendary that all classes can complete, a drastic change from the rogue-only weapon of Tier 13. Players acquire one of nine "Sha-Touched" weapons from Tier 14 raids, completing a series of quests with Wrathion to acquire special +500 stat gems. We don't know the whole quest chain yet, but the first part will let you put a legendary gem in an epic weapon, which isn't a bad start. Datamined icons with legendary names and Breath of the Black Prince imply that the final result will be a legendary weapon.

Right now, all of these base weapons have versions and unique colors from LFR, Normal, and Heroic difficulty. You can complete this initial quest series on any difficulty including LFR and put the legendary gem (can be purchased from Wrathion multiple times) into Sha-Touched weapons on any tier.

The goal is for players to be rewarded with something really special that stick with the legendary questline through multiple content patches.

Incoming... implies that the legendary chain continues in 5.1, where the Alliance and Horde will set up encampments in Krasarang Wilds and the faction conflict will escalate. And with four Wrathion-related achievements, Chapter I: Trial of the Black Prince shows that getting a gem upgrade is only the beginning.

Breath of the Black Prince is a legendary item without a known purpose yet--could be used for several things. It could be a flavor item that simply removes existing enchants to free up the item for hydraulic gems like Crystallized Horror. but players can just resocket over old gems as it is.

It could possibly raise the ilvl of the weapon completely or be an item needed for the continuation of the quest in 5.1. Datamined icons with names like "inv_legendary_mace" imply that there will be legendary weapons at some point, not just epic items with amazing gems. These icons mostly match up with the known "Sha-Touched" weapons, except no shield has been discovered yet.

Comments

Comment by Nerubie

on 2012/08/16 05:39:23

Oh c'mon 2H axe again, why not 2H sword? :((

Comment by stpaul

on 2012/08/16 07:52:16

I really don't get the idea... Previously all legendaries got powerful proc/on-use effect, now it's just pure primary stat boost? If whole expansion is targeted for kids (bunny & monkey bosses, fluffy creatures all over the world, etc) can at least end-game be more oriented to ppl who were in game before major current players were even born.

Comment by Adamsm

on 2012/08/16 10:12:29

I really don't get the idea... Previously all legendaries got powerful proc/on-use effect, now it's just pure primary stat boost? If whole expansion is targeted for kids (bunny & monkey bosses, fluffy creatures all over the world, etc) can at least end-game be more oriented to ppl who were in game before major current players were even born.

This is just the first step of a long long long quest line.

Comment by iwillmoou

on 2012/08/16 10:37:08

correct me if im wrong but arent legendary items orange? not purple?...dont seem very legendary to me...More like a chain to get a decent wep!

you are wrong.. The "legendary" is a gem there can only fit in the weps.. And the gem is orange.. that's why it is like it is.. and still a legendary quest.. it's to show what the gem can fit into.. :)

Comment by Happyfaic

on 2012/08/16 10:50:05

As usual, EVERYONE GETS A LEGENDARY....except warrior/pally tanks.

FML

Comment by Fadinphoenix

on 2012/08/16 11:00:45

just reading a few posts through-out this, i think everyone is missing what will really happen. The video gets it right to a point but misses one or two main points.

What's ganna happen is...This is the first of 4 quests you will do for Wraithon through the MoP expansion. A new one will become available to you once you complete the latter and once each major patch for the game hit. so when 5.1 , 5.2 and 5.3 hit.

The first reward is not the weapons pictured above, those drop from boss in the T14 raids. The first reward is a "Legendary" gem that can only be placed in those weapons pictured above. The gem can only be placed in a "Sha-touched" weapon.

The true thing to note is this..."Breath of the Black Prince is a legendary item without a known purpose yet--could be used for several things. It could be a flavor item that simply removes existing enchants to free up the item for hydraulic gems like Crystallized Horror. but players can just resocket over old gems as it is."

To me, the "Breath of the Black Prince" item that will be a reward im betting will be something that u use to remove that "Legendary" gem so that u can put it into a new "sha-touched" item. But why would it also say,"Greatly empower any piece of Sha-Touched equipment." So then that one line leads me to believe something else. Removes ur "Sha" gem, raises the iLVL of that gear and then allows you to reuse the "Sha" gem.

It isnt saying that the 496 weapons will become the legendary weapon in the end, cause think about it, what if someone only does raid finder and gets the RF sha weapon. If this item turns the iLVL 496 weapons to legendary, then there would be an LFR version, a normal version and a roic version. Legendaries are more powerful then heroic stuff, so i dont think it would change the current items over. It may make them relevant for the next Teir though so u dont have to get rid of them. Or Blizz may not add weapons in T15, may make u have to get that upgrade so you get a better weapon.

either way, i feel i can safely say, there will be no legendary weapons awarded until 5.3. Once 5.3 hit and everyone starts the final part of this quest chain, you will start seeing ppl getting legendaries. My other thought on this is, does that mean basically the whole population of WoW will be running around with legendary weapons? Would kinda take away from the word "Legendary" dont u think.

Comment by arexu

on 2012/08/16 11:19:25

my eyes hurt :/ ugly weapons.

Comment by randomsyllable

on 2012/08/16 13:43:33

As usual, EVERYONE GETS A LEGENDARY....except warrior/pally tanks.

FML

I don't think DK tanks are super excited by the prospect of +500 STR either. There are very few/no properly statted 2handers.

Comment by Azerk

on 2012/08/16 16:54:26

Hmm, does this mean that duel wielders can only have one legendary weapon? as that thing only has 1 charge.

Comment by corymarcinka

on 2012/08/16 17:21:09

did they get rid of Bows?

Comment by robastyk

on 2012/08/16 21:19:22

This approach also appears (and I am hedging here because we so not have complete information) to do something that is both wonderful and sad at the same time. It's wonderful in that it provides legendary weapons for almost all classes. Unfortunately, this new legendary series of weapons is limited to those that are "Sha-touched". Only weapons available in the MoP expansion can be brought up to legendary level over the life of the expansion. If the quest line takes rare or epic weapons and elevates them to legendary, how difficult would it be to create a quest line that makes the older legendaries "Sha-touched" and brings them into the on-going quest line? Not very I think. Wouldn't it be wonderful if those of us who've done the long quest lines for Dragonwrath, Fangs of the Fathers, Shadowmourne, Val'anyr, Thunderfury and even Thori'dal and the Warglaives could bring our hard won weapons up to the level of Mists legendaries?

What would it take? A visit to a special NPC crafter who's only accessible through doing the quests required for the new Mists legendaries much in the way that Death Knights visit their rune forges? Surely that's not impossible. Making the owner of Dragonwrath or Shadowmourne complete all the same quests required for the new weapons plus an additional line that makes the weapon "Sha-touched" doesn't cheapen the effort of anyone completing the new lines. It does, however, mean a marginal increase in the number of top level legendary weapons that will be in the game at the end. If obtaining the newer weapons is both an individual and guild achievement I expect that will mean that many players will complete the lines for the new weapons too. Besides, the players most likely to complete the legendary quest lines for the new weapons probably have already completed one or more of the quest lines for the older weapons. I don't think that having a legendary weapon that increases in level as the player progresses across Pandaria will deter many from the challenge. The real point of providing a means of renewing the usefulness of the legendaries from past patches is that it respects the time and trouble of the players who've devoted themselves to following through the quest lines for those weapons.

But then again the game designers aren't known for respecting their long-time players. Making the older legendaries useful through the next expansion might be a long overdue mea culpa that would draw disaffected players back to the game.

Comment by Destler

on 2012/08/16 22:54:36

Definitely mogging those spellcaster staves, those look awful. Why not switch them with the agility staves? Those look more like spellcaster staves and the agilities can have the staffs that look like a ball with a vine wrapped around it.

Downrate this all you want, those look terrible.

Comment by Thunderfox

on 2012/08/17 00:16:52

Definitely mogging those spellcaster staves, those look awful. Why not switch them with the agility staves? Those look more like spellcaster staves and the agilities can have the staffs that look like a ball with a vine wrapped around it.

Downrate this all you want, those look terrible.

Hence why my Lock is going to have Lo'shan... hopefully

Comment by Shadewolfe

on 2012/08/17 03:16:30

Now assuming these (or at least some of these) are Legendary models, it brings to mind a question: Is it just me or are Legendaries getting uglier and uglier?

Shadowmourne is about as cool as a Legendary weapon comes.Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa's Rest is pretty if you like overtly ornate staves.

But the Fangs of the Father look like your dual-wielding armored baby squids.

In my opinion most of the weapons pictured here are just ugly or unimpressive. I hope these are not representative of MoP Legendaries.

Comment by enjb

on 2012/08/17 03:22:53

That 1handed sword looks like a stick... Where's the blade for it and why does it look like it can be snapped in half by a child? /cry no good looking swords

Comment by enjb

on 2012/08/17 03:26:33

The agility staves look bad, looks like a clump of dirt at the end. The spellcaster ones at least look OK, but still pretty bad -_-

Comment by Sorzzara

on 2012/08/17 05:16:28

If Blizzard is going to force me once again to run around for endless months with a god-awful dagger design, that can't be transmogged because its legendary, i shall be VERY annoyed.

I get it, it makes sense not to allow legendarys as a template for transmogrification, for that would make them somewhat less special.

But, there is ZERO reason, for not allowing legendarys to BE transmogged into something else! Face it blizz, the design on the rogue daggers was crap. And I mean a mass of crap that rivals the Triceratops poo-pile from Jurassic Park 1. They are big, they glow, they have tentacles, there is a steaming eye...its like the whole 3D design department came together, arm wrestled about whose idea is the best, and since all of them have the upper body strength of a degenerated sea slug, decided to do everything at once, so no one would go home crying.

And from what I see, you are going to continue this proud tradition of ridiculous design-overload. Guys, I don't have a problem with your designs per-se. I am aware that looks are a personal thing, I know people who love the FangsOfTheFather-Design.

But the whole Idea behind transmogrification, was to allow personalization based on PERSONAL PREFERENCE in the first place right? So whats the point of forcing us to use a design that we don't like? (And yes, you FORCE us to, for legendarys are usually BiS. Yeah, we could use other weaponry...we could also stop taking medicine, mail-order all of our food and start walking on our hands)

Yes, transmogging legendarys into crappy green daggers could potentially fool opponents in PvP to a false threat assessment...so can using the T2 lookalike from BC dungeons to make your rogue wear antlers, and apparently you have no problem with that.

Comment by Tenjen

on 2012/08/17 06:02:54

For the final time.

These are only the first stage of the weapons leading up to the legendaries. We get legendary gems (which can be removed later on by an item from wrathion) at this stage and further down the line the weapons will upgrade into more powerful forms, taking 1 or 2 such steps till reaching legendary. Each step has us earn the upgrade.

this was how tyragoosa and fangs of the father worked with cata. Shadowmourne in wotlk.

Comment by xnihilo

on 2012/08/17 06:48:02

Do we know if the Sigils of Power/Wisdom will be attainable in LFR? (There are "Sha-Touched" weapon drops from there, so it might make sense).

I actually got a Sigil of Power when I tested LFR in beta... so right now, yes.And assuming the hydraulic socket in the LFR versions of these weapons carry over to live, then anyone doing LFR can also get these gems... I'm not sure how much farther one can get in LFR after that (in future patches, I mean).

I'm not sure how I feel about this being completely obtainable in LFR. Now I feel required to do LFR on top of my normal raiding every week to try and maximize my sigil-earning potential.

The items for the Fangs of the Father quest were also obtainable in LFR during beta. This changed when 4.3 hit live. Don't take ANYTHING for fact until the expansion/patch/update is released.

And to everyone who hasn't looked at the weapons close enough yet: THE WEAPONS ARE NOT LEGENDARY, THEY'RE EPIC, so they CAN be transmogged.

I suggest people read the information more closely before they start a rant post about Blizzard not implementing their deepest desires and wishes and doing it all wrong.

Comment by Rainemard

on 2012/08/17 11:28:36

TARGET AQUIRED. LIGHT IT UPWE READ YOU. COMIN' IN HOT.BURN IT TO THE GROUND!...oh how I love/loathe you, Strongarm.

If Blizzard is going to force me once again to run around for endless months with a god-awful dagger design, that can't be transmogged because its legendary, i shall be VERY annoyed.

I get it, it makes sense not to allow legendarys as a template for transmogrification, for that would make them somewhat less special.

But, there is ZERO reason, for not allowing legendarys to BE transmogged into something else! Face it blizz, the design on the rogue daggers was crap. And I mean a mass of crap that rivals the Triceratops poo-pile from Jurassic Park 1. They are big, they glow, they have tentacles, there is a steaming eye...its like the whole 3D design department came together, arm wrestled about whose idea is the best, and since all of them have the upper body strength of a degenerated sea slug, decided to do everything at once, so no one would go home crying.

And from what I see, you are going to continue this proud tradition of ridiculous design-overload. Guys, I don't have a problem with your designs per-se. I am aware that looks are a personal thing, I know people who love the FangsOfTheFather-Design.

But the whole Idea behind transmogrification, was to allow personalization based on PERSONAL PREFERENCE in the first place right? So whats the point of forcing us to use a design that we don't like? (And yes, you FORCE us to, for legendarys are usually BiS. Yeah, we could use other weaponry...we could also stop taking medicine, mail-order all of our food and start walking on our hands)

Yes, transmogging legendarys into crappy green daggers could potentially fool opponents in PvP to a false threat assessment...so can using the T2 lookalike from BC dungeons to make your rogue wear antlers, and apparently you have no problem with that.

The weapon itself is epic, not Legendary (so far)

I'm surprised you could even see your daggers with Landslide on...

100% agree with making Legendaries transmoggable. If you do the work, you deserve to show (or hide!) it.